Malaysia the new addition as 2019 WTCR calendar confirmed

The calendar for the 2019 World Touring Car Cup has been confirmed, with a new event at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia the most notable change, which will host the season finale next year.

The calendar will also be ten events, with the other races largely unchanged except in terms of scheduling.

The season will again start at the semi-permanent Circuit Moulay El Hassan in Morocco on April 6-7th, before the second round at the Hungaroring on April 28th.

There will be a double-header in mid-may, with WTCR returning to the Slovakiaring on May 12th, before Zandvoort, The Netherlands race on May 19th.

The German round at the Nurburgring Nordschleife takes place at the newly rescheduled date of June 23rd, a month later than usual, with Vila Real in Portugal hosting the last round of the European leg on July 7th.

The Ningbo International Speedpark will host the sole Chinese round of the WTCR on September 15th. The WTCR hoped to run two China races, to bring the season up to 11 events, but this was unpopular with the teams.

Wuhan was already set to be dropped after one year, due to the seventh CISM World Games 2019 (Chinese military games) being held at the city throughout October, with the organisers only able to host a race at the earliest in mid-November, directly clashing with Macau. The WTCR therefore plans to return to the Chinese street circuit in 2020.

Suzuka will again host the Japanese round of the championship, before the Guia Race of Macau on November 17th, back to being the penultimate event as last year, with the new season finale at Malaysia following at a date yet to be confirmed.